The Observer

I feel sorry for Sebastien Bourdais. Why? After all, he's not doing bad for himself, is he? You know, three Champ Car titles on the trot, racing for one of the best American teams ever, backed by the biggest and most (in)famous fast-food restaurant chain in the world. Life is hardly treating him badly.

And yet Bourdais' phenomenal achievements in the US have not received the mass recognition he has every right to expect.

On the day he secured his third title at the Surfers Paradise street race, stumbling to an inglorious eighth place finish after colliding with home race hero Will Power, Fernando Alonso was savouring the feeling of becoming the youngest ever double Formula One world champion.

Never mind missing out on world-wide headlines, Bourdais wasn't even the biggest news in Champ Car. Title rival AJ Allmendinger's 'treacherous' defection to NASCAR was the story most people were talking about, not to mention AJ's dramatic pit fire in the race and Justin Wilson's wrist-breaking practice shunt.

The trouble was Seb's success had always looked likely and had really been a foregone conclusion ahead of the Australian race. No surprise and no big deal.

But of course it is. I've said before that Champ Car does not enjoy an entry of a quality to match the IRL (at least not this year - perhaps it will be a different story in 2007), and I'll stand by that. The series profile still has a long way to go to reach the levels it achieved in the 1990s. But Bourdais still deserves a great deal of credit as a racer and as a champion in a series that is certainly no walkover.

Sebastien Bourdais celebrates winning his third Champ Car Championship in Australia © LAT

To beat Forsythe duo Allmendinger and Paul Tracy, and RuSPORT's British star Justin Wilson takes some doing. OK, Tracy has pushed the self-destruct button too many times this year, but Allmendinger and Wilson have been on top form. Bourdais has been forced to work hard against two seriously talented rivals.

But Champ Car's troubles have taken the shine off his success and those titles don't appear to be the springboard Bourdais deserves to fly him back to Europe and an F1 deal.

This winter he should be pounding round Jerez and Barcelona preparing for his first F1 season. Instead, he's looking at more of the same in the States. That's fine - in fact, that's great - but it must annoy him. Especially given the nature of his intense character.

Bourdais doesn't help himself because he is seen by many in Champ Car as, well, a bit of a difficult Frenchman. He's well-loved within Newman-Haas and understands how to be a team player, the foundation behind his astounding qualifying speed and race consistency. But his persecution complex and heart-on-sleeve bluntness has not helped his popularity. I'm sure he doesn't care too much about that, but the perception of his character might deflect attention from the important bit - just how good he is on track.

I've always liked Bourdais - and from what I hear in the States, he hasn't really changed since the days I saw him regularly.

I got to know him when he drove for the Prost Junior team in Formula 3000 back in 2000. As a series rookie he made a good impression (pole position at Monaco, second place at Magny-Cours). But there were too many mistakes, too many hot-headed clashes with the likes of David Saelens.

When you approach drivers still steaming after a bad race, it's always wise to tread carefully. Bourdais, who was always friendly and courteous, just couldn't hide the disappointment he was feeling. I'd mumble "bad luck" as a starter to asking for his opinion about what happened - and it was always the wrong thing to say.

"Eetz not bad luck!" he would exclaim. And then he would rant about the incident and the other person involved. Sometimes he would have a point, sometimes he would be on dodgy ground, and sometimes he would accept some blame for his fate. All completely normal for any decent racing driver. But his reaction was always so intense, his emotions so highly strung, these tricky conversations were always particularly memorable.

Sebastien Bourdais (Gauloises Formula) tangles with David Saelens (D2 Playlife Super Nova) in the first turn at Monaco, 2000 © LAT

In that first F3000 season Bourdais was overshadowed in the rookie stakes by a certain Spaniard. Alonso was only in his second year of car racing, having shown his potential in the Formula Nissan series the year before. Team Astromega raved about the 19-year-old, but results proved hard to come by at first.

But when F3000 old hand Marc Goossens joined the team towards the end of the season, a new focus and impetus was found. Alonso finished second in Hungary and then blitzed everyone at Spa. He was on the map. From there he would leave F3000 behind with a Flavio Briatore management deal and a Minardi race contract.

Bourdais would stick around in F3000, switching from Prost to past masters of the series, DAMS.

Seb would take the team's first win since 1997 and claim fourth in the points that year. But I only put him sixth in my driver ratings in Autosport at the end of 2001, behind champion Justin Wilson, Mark Webber, Tomas Enge, Antonio Pizzonia and Ricardo Sperafico. Bourdais had been quick on occasion, but that Silverstone win owed a debt of luck and although France desperately needed a driver to burst through into F1 there were some doubts that he had what it took. He wasn't doing enough.

But all that was put behind him in 2002 when he moved to Super Nova for a third crack at F3000. This time nothing but the title would do, and Bourdais delivered in some style. Tom Walkinshaw had taken note and an Arrows drive looked on for 2003.

But when Walkinshaw's team went under so too did Bourdais' F1 hopes. He tested for Renault and ran in their colours all year at Super Nova. But their focus was on grooming Alonso. French he might have been, but Renault just wanted the best driver - and they assuredly made the right choice.

Even so, what Bourdais has achieved since leaving Europe can leave us in no doubt that he deserves a shot at F1. Yes, Cristiano da Matta conquered Champ Cars and made little impression in Grands Prix with Toyota, but that doesn't mean the same would be true if Seb made the switch. He might be mega - and he might not be. We just don't know.

The only likely drive for Bourdais in Europe next year is at the Le Mans 24 Hours, a race he loves and wants to win. A seat with Peugeot makes sense for the manufacturer, the driver and France.

But F1? Not this time. That ship might have sailed for Bourdais, which is a shame. Because until you have been given a chance at the top level, no one can make an honest judgement of your ultimate ability.

Bourdais is the undisputed king of Champ Car - even if he is not particularly popular. But we might never know just how good he is.